3of 4Jay Stittle, who is running for County Judge in Montgomery County, at the Houston Women's March, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, in Houston.Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle

4of 4A girl walks with a protest sign at the Black Women's March on Saturday, March 3, 2018, in Houston.Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle / Houston Chronicle

Each academic year I ask my first-year students, "Who considers themselves a feminist?" Few raise their hand.

But then, when I ask who supports equal rights, equal pay, freedom from violence and equal opportunities for women in male-dominated fields, all students agree.

This I'm not a feminist, but ... phenomenon is nothing new, but why does it continue? Why are some people afraid to call themselves feminists?

I am a feminist. I believe all people should have access to the same rights, freedoms, opportunities and safety from violence. But I wonder what it is about the word "feminist" that remains so tainted to so many, including many women.

To my mind, there are two distinct aspects to feminism. One focuses on pragmatic, tangible goals — everything from the right to vote through the elimination of sexual harassment. The other is what I might call academic feminism, which tends to be rooted in a complex and often competing set of theories, ideologies and jargon (such as "intersectionality," "toxic masculinity," "woke," etc.)

There's always a risk that movements end up defined by their loudest and most extreme voices. For instance, the cause was not helped by Suzanna Danuta Walters asking recently, "Why can't we hate men?"

Though Walters makes some fair points in her op-ed, these are lost, finally, when she concludes:

"So men, if you really are #WithUs and would like us to not hate you for all the millennia of woe you have produced and benefited from, start with this: Lean out so we can actually just stand up without being beaten down. Pledge to vote for feminist women only. Don't run for office. Don't be in charge of anything. Step away from the power. We got this. And please know that your crocodile tears won't be wiped away by us anymore. We have every right to hate you."

She notes, correctly, that across the world, women continue to suffer from everything from sexual violence to lower pay and property ownership, much of this due to institutional systems which treat women as second-class citizens. Maybe I am more optimistic than Walters in believing that most men and women would like to see this change, but these larger practical points get lost as the essay turns into sniping.

These examples reveal one of feminism's ongoing risks: Indulging in anger and ideological rigidity, the movement becomes distracted from its practical goals and, in effect, slows itself down. A choir is preached to, when allies need to be gained. Righteous anger can be satisfying, but it rarely wins an intellectual cause.

So, countless people who believe in the practical goals of feminism decline to think of themselves as feminists.

Less divisive examples can be found, though. Maybe the most famous is Emma Watson, who acted as the spokesperson for the United Nations' HeforShe campaign, which explicitly sought to ally men and women in the cause of feminism.

Another example of practical feminism is Lauren Mayberry from the band Chvrches, who has written passionately about the experience of sexual harassment. Such women can sometimes face hostility from other feminists — Watson faced criticism as a "hypocrite" after posing in one revealing photo, for example.

Can feminism extract itself from the endless polarization of left against right? Though change will always be resisted by some, focusing on the practical can open feminism to a wider array of supporters.

This will mean some hard choices. Should an issue like abortion — which pits the rights of pregnant women and unborn children against each other in a difficult-to-resolve moral quandary — be the litmus test for feminism?

With my students, I try to foster a practical dialogue about these issues. We discuss an incident in which Lauren Mayberry calls out a male concertgoer for asking her to marry him. We ask: Was she spot on to give him grief, or should she have let the comment pass? Is it different from when male performers receive sexualized come-ons from women? Should the concertgoer have known Mayberry had already spoken publicly about the sexual harassment of female performers and adjusted his behavior accordingly?

My students disagree on these points (and not always along clear gender lines), but these discussions show that men and women are capable of talking and even disagreeing with each other without automatically becoming enemies who dismiss each other.

What's clear is that feminism has made incredible strides in the past few decades, and I believe it will continue to do so. And this progress will only be eased if we can focus on practical outcomes and avoid dogmatic rigidity and politicized jargon.